I found this interesting:
" In 46 B.C.E. the Roman emperor Julius Caesar first established January 1 as New Year’s day. Janus was the Roman god of doors and gates, and had two faces, one looking forward and one back. Caesar felt that the month named after this god (“January”) would be the appropriate “door” to the year. Caesar celebrated the first January 1 New Year by ordering the violent routing of revolutionary Jewish forces in the Galilee."
Question arises: If this is true, then does this make an atheist who does not celebrate Christmas a hypocrite if they celebrate New Year?
It is always the intention that counts.
Non-theists who ‘celebrate’ Christmas or New Year Eve countdowns do it on a cultural and social basis, not theistic and without soteriological thoughts.
Not at all.
It show that such non-theists are tolerant of theism, has no deep hatred of theism and thus reflect their level of wisdom.
Personally I believe theism is a CRITICAL necessity for the majority in this present phase of humanity’s progress to deal with the inherent and unavoidable existential dilemma. Theism at present is still tolerable as its pros overweigh its cons.
However, the cons of theism will soon outweigh its pros and thus humanity must find replacements with net-pros to replace theism in the near future.
Nice reply. But the issue is not one of tolerance… does a non-theist celebrate New Years with tolerance of theism?
Or, does a not-theist just celebrate New Year?
I personally do not think theism will ever be replaced.
I suspect all that is happening is that people are speaking out whereas they were silent prior.
A certain proportion of society will always believe and a the rest will not.
I don’t think the majority of non-theists know that New Year has anything to do with theism. They just celebrate like everybody else is doing for cultural and social reasons.
However when they are informed of the New Year association with theism, most non-theists will still continue to celebrate New Year as they are tolerable of theism.
However, there may be some fundamentalists and hardcore atheists who might steer clear of the New Year Celebration as they do not want any thing to do with theism just like they would ignore Christmas as a matter of principle.
I agree theism will not be totally replaced, at the minimum there will still be a small percentile of hardcore theists around. However at that minimal rate, theism will have less influence and will not provide the necessary moral support for the extremists/fundamentalists to commit extensive evils around the world.
James, if an atheist does not celebrate Christmas (monotheism) does it make them a hypocrite if they celebrate New Year (polytheism)?
Hope this clears up your confusion.
James, I am puzzled why you find this hard to understand.
An atheist does not believe in monotheism or polytheism… they are atheists.
It is really not that difficult… step back for a moment and take your bias flavoured sunglasses off.
Look at the question at bit harder (without the flavour).
Yes, agreed… this is from Pagan views as per OP.
There is no “new” in a cycle… it is a cycle with no beginning or end. There is no scientific basis for New Year.
Christmas is also a celebration of life (and Easter is also a celebration of life).
Easter, Christmas and New Years celebrations all have pagan origins. This does not suggest that either a pagan or a Christian is being hypocritical in observing them. It only suggests that pagan festivals have evolved.
New years has nothing to do with any theism at all.
So there is no hypocrisy opportunity involved.
It’s a dumb question, apparently from a perversely biased presumption.
